The golden years and retirement are the best years of your life – with time for fun hobbies and activities. But if you face a financially unstable future then this is disheartening.
Fortunately, the online world offers exciting business opportunities for the 50-plus wanting to retire comfortably. Even non-techies can start an online business nowadays with user-friendly technology. If you’re aspiring to be an entrepreneur then this article about the Best Online Income for the Over 50s will help you get started!…
1. Is 50 Plus Too Old to Start a New Business?
The answer is a resounding NO! I discovered that research done by the Harvard Business Review on high-growth start-ups found that “older entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed.” Why?…
Well, people over 50 have more work experience and that’s critical to long-term growth and success. Which is fantastic news for us olderpreneurs!
Your life experience, broad knowledge, and wisdom are the perfect recipe for a successful online business. So why not capitalize on your expertise in an online business?
These Harvard researchers also found that “businesses set up by the over-50s are more likely to still be trading 5 years later than those established by younger age groups.”
We’ve got stickability!
- You can cope with challenges
- You’ve got time management skills
- You’ve got networks,
- You’ve helped friends and family with their problems
And now it’s time to empower those skills for your own successful business …
2. What’s the Best Online Income for the over 50s?
Deciding which type of online business you want can lead to indecision and inaction. So I’ve only given you two easy options, low-cost to set up, and could potentially be done together…
Affiliate Marketing is where you don’t sell products but write helpful articles with links to companies you recommend and you earn a commission.
Dropshipping is where you sell products you don’t stock and earn a margin of the profit.
Read on for a deeper look into these models and see how you can make extra money, give up your boss, and enjoy the laptop lifestyle!
3. Affiliate Marketing – Create a Passive Income
Affiliate Marketing is a growing multi-billion-dollar industry with many income opportunities for the over 50s.
This is a sales model where you promote a company’s products and services on your website. You’ll write about the company’s products and services and this content will contain unique tracked links…
When a customer clicks on the link and purchases the product, you’ll receive a commission from this referral.
I studied Affiliate Marketing at Wealthy Affiliate – Read my Review here
a. Start a Niche Blog
A Niche Blog is a blog that discusses a specific topic. You’ll need to choose a topic you’re happy to write about for months and who your target audience will be.
b. How to Choose a Niche
You’ll choose a subject (niche) that you’re passionate and knowledgeable about. Or you can choose a subject you want to learn more about…So for the over-50 age group, you’re sure to have lots of ideas…
Popular niches are Fitness and Weight Loss, Health, Pets, Make Money Online, Relationships, Beauty, Technology, and Finance.
Through keyword research, you’ll choose your niche. For example, pet care is a popular and profitable niche.
But pet care is too broad and competitive for a blog. So you’ll find a more specific niche within this subject, for example, Best Dog Breeds for Apartments.
What about dating? A sub-niche could be Dating for Men over 50.
How about health? A sub-niche of Green Tea becomes Green Tea for Weight Loss.
c. Do your Research
Find a Niche, Keywords, and Article Ideas from these Handy Sites
Check Google Trends to see what’s trending in the topic you’re interested in, where it’s trending by country and region, and see what other topics are trending around that topic – these are all good ideas for articles.
For example, Green Tea for Weight Loss is trending in Alabama and Louisiana, and Matcha Green Tea for Weight Loss is an associated topic (Matcha is a type of tea from East Asia).
Look at Quora and see what questions are being asked about your topic and who is asking. Is there interest in the topic? If so, you can then turn these questions into articles – see below.
Search Response – see what people are asking Google
Answer Socrates – another great site to find out what questions people are asking google
d. Example on Quora
I searched for ‘Green Tea for Weight Loss’ on Quora and this is the first result. See how many ideas for articles you get in that one question!
e. Time to Choose a Website and Write
WordPress is an excellent website framework for your niche blog. You can customize the themes to your creative taste, optimize the site for search, and lots more.
But, word of advice – don’t get caught up in the looks of the website and in being perfect – this will get in the way of the real work – generating quality authentic content.
Top Tip: Your blog content won’t be salesy. The idea is that you write super helpful content for a targeted audience and you solve their problems.
Think about the questions you’ve asked Google, for example, How to get rid of belly fat? How much protein do I need each day? What’s a popular comedy on Netflix?
You’ll answer these types of questions with extremely informative guidance…and you become the ‘go-to-person’!
f. Solving Problems and Helping
So the idea for Affiliate Marketing is that you work out your audience’s problems. You then solve their problems in your articles on your niche blog.
Within the article, you’ll also link to products and services that align with the subject. These links have your special affiliate code and when your audience clicks and buys – you earn…Ka-ching!
Affiliate marketing is an excellent opportunity if you truly believe in the value of the product you’re selling. Because many times, you can make money off of something you would probably recommend anyway.
Neil Patel, Founder of Neil Patel Digital
g. Making Money!
Of course, like any business, it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. You’ll put time and effort into building your blog content.
Each article creates more links. which creates more clicks. which creates more sales. and so on. Over time you’ll gain dedicated readers and followers. You also see money (which is exciting) but not immediately. Google needs time to trust you.
h. How do I Promote my Blog for Free?
Promote your blog on social media channels, Pinterest, Quora, and Reddit. If you enjoy making videos (even simple ones) YouTube is a great promotional tool.
For an online income for the over 50’s these promotional opportunities create a good conversation between you and your followers and build trust in your niche blog.
Promotion can take a lot of time though so choose two and focus on these.
Pros of Affiliate Marketing as an Online Income for the Over 50s
- Easy to set up with minimal start-up costs
- Low risk with few running costs
- You’ll capitalize on your knowledge, time management, and business skills
- You can turn a passion into a business
- Helping people is fun and rewarding
- You’ll continue to earn money from links you shared months or even years before
- No expertise is needed – you’ll learn along the way
- Work when you want – where you want
Cons of Affiliate Marketing
- It takes time to build your blog and often people give up too early
- Commissions can be low, for example in travel accommodation, so choose programs wisely
- Competition is fierce so choose a sub-niche that has less competition
- Difficult to predict how much money you’ll make initially
With Affiliate Marketing you can earn money while you sleep.
Neil Patel describes this as “Make $$$ while you ZZZ”!
What’s the Key Takeaway with this Online Income for the Over 50s?
Affiliate Marketing is an online business with plenty of rewards once you’ve done the initial hard work. When you build up a solid foundation you can hire writers and creators to help you maintain your content creation schedules.
See More Affiliate Marketing Advice
4. Dropshipping – Selling Made Easy
This is an order fulfillment method where your online business sells products that you don’t keep in stock.
So, when a customer buys a product from you, you then purchase this product directly from the dropshipper. They will be a manufacturer, retailer, or wholesaler and they ship the products directly to the customer.
The product can be branded to appear to come directly from you. So although you sell the products you don’t handle them.
a. What Do I Need to Do to Start Dropshipping?
You’ll choose the type of products you’d like to sell, and your selling channels. Do you want to sell on a blog or website? or YouTube? or Facebook? or another one of your choice.
You’ll find individual companies or dropshipping channels. These channels handle thousands of wholesalers and manufacturers all in one place so you have a huge range of products to choose from.
Some channels include: SaleHoo, AlixExpress, Spocket, Modalyst, Doba, Worldwide Brands, DHGate, and Wholesale2B
b. How to find Perfect Dropshipping Products:
Check on Amazon, Google Trends, Etsy, and Pinterest for trending and popular products. Also, check out your potential competition and their prices. Google ”what product is trending right now?”
What about niche products, e.g. organic, fair trade? Also, look for regional products that are likely to be less competitive.
c. Top 10 Trending Products on Shopify:
Shopify is a popular website creation tool that offers 24/7 help, and useful articles on selling, promotion, and SEO. Here are their current top products:
- Toys
- Shoes
- Pens and Pencils
- Decorative Bottles
- Drills
- Cutters
- GPS Navigation Systems
- Bras
- Motor Vehicle Parts
- Office Chairs
Their advice for success in dropshipping (and they should know!) is that you need trending products, marketing skills and the determination to succeed.
d. Top Tips
- Think about how the product will ship, for example, big heavy items will cost a lot to ship, and the postage cost may discourage purchasers.
- Also selling clothes or shoes can result in areturns, due to size issues, so you’ll end up with more work dealing with these returns.
I’ve met a Shopify customer service rep and he said it’s easy setting up a website with wonderful products. But if you don’t promote your website then no one knows about you, you don’t have a business…and you don’t make money.
So that Shopify’s tip about marketing skills is important. At the beginning, promotion is 95% of the work!
e. How can I Promote my Website?
My advice for promotion are the same as for affiliate marketing: social media, Pinterest, YouTube, and Forums like Quora, and Reddit. Choose 2 and focus on them.
Pros of Dropshipping
- Minimal start-up costs
- Low risk with few running costs
- You can dropship on Amazon so long as you follow their policies
- Amazon also has a program called FAB – Fulfillment by Amazon
- You can sell through your blog or website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and other channels
- You can be anywhere in the world and sell to any geographic location – so long as the dropshippers can ship to that location
- You can start small and keep it that way, or scale up to a big business. Since you don’t need to store and manage stock, package the products or ship them.
Cons of Dropshipping
- The dropshipper may run out of a product after you’ve sold the item which is hugely disappointing for your (now unhappy) customer and damages your brand.
- Since dropshipping is so easy to start it’s also very competitive. You’re potentially selling products that lots of other people are selling too – which can create saturation.
- if the product is damaged or doesn’t turn up at the customer’s address – do you trust the dropshipper with the returns process? So check that first.
- Shipping times can vary widely amongst the dropshippers, especially international shipping times.
- Check their customer service channels works efficiently, so you know if they can help you when things go pear-shaped.
5. Video: Complete Guide to Dropshipping on Shopify
What’s the Key Takeaway?
Dropshipping is a relatively easy way for you to sell products without the headache of handling stock. It’s still hands-on making sure everything runs smoothly but it’s easy to upscale the whole operation and you can add and delete products as the market changes.
Wrapping Up
Hi Friends, I hope I answered your question about the Best Online Income for Over 50s and how you can make money in your 50s and older.
Quite a bit of information to digest but these two business models offer a chance to harness your skills and experience and start your own business, escape the corporate world, and find financial independence.
